CCN characteristics over a tropical coastal station during south-west monsoon: observations and closure studies

- First time measurements of CCN and CN concentration from a coastal tropical Indian station.
- Significant diurnal variation in activation ratio during summer monsoon.
- Large increase in fine mode aerosols deceases the activation ratio during land breeze.
- Activation ratio and empirical fit 'k' show an inverse relationship.
- Predicted CCN concentration shows large heterogeneity with aerosol composition.

Number concentration measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) at five supersaturation values between 0.2 and 1.0% were made from a coastal site (Thiruvananthapuram) of peninsular India using a single column CCN counter during the summer monsoon period (June-September) of 2013 and 2014. The CCN concentration over this site showed diurnal variations of high values during nighttime and low values during daytime in association with the change in mesoscale circulation patterns. The inter-annual variations of CCN (CCN0.4% = 2,232 ± 672 cm−3 during August 2013 and CCN0.4% = 941 ± 325 cm−3 during August 2014) are mostly associated with the varying intensity of monsoon rainfall. The variation of CCN number concentration with supersaturation is found to be steeper during nighttime (indicating a less CCN active aerosol system) than during daytime (CCN active system). The CCN activation ratio estimated using simultaneous measurements of CCN and aerosol number (CN) concentration clearly depict the role of land-sea breeze circulations with higher values during daytime than the nighttime. The CCN number concentration predicted for different supersaturations, from measured aerosol number size distribution using Kohler theory, indicate the importance of the change in aerosol composition associated with different airmasses in a coastal environment.